Conventional guitars comprise a body and neck with strings stretched and tensioned between the distal end of the neck and a bridge mounted in the body. The neck is usually integral with the body of the guitar. However, the size of the guitar makes the instrument difficult and awkward to transport or store. This problem is particularly relevant when guitars are transported by commercial carriers such as airlines where storage space is limited. On airlines, the guitar is usually too large for storage as hand luggage and must be stored in a well padded case to protect it from the rough handling often experienced by checked baggage.
As a consequence travel guitars have been developed. These include guitars with hinged necks that are able to fold back on themselves. An example of a guitar with a hinged neck is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,211, but in order for the neck to fold back the neck-hinge portion must be thin and the strings are overstretched. Thin necks provide flexibility which affects the pitch and tune of the guitar. Similarly overstretched strings change the tune and the guitar must be retuned prior to playing. To overcome the problem with overstretched strings, a guitar with a complex system of gears and rollers to relax the tension of the strings so the neck can be folded was developed and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,093. With another approach guitars such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,882 were developed that were foldable with collapsible bodies.
In also addressing the problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,672 discloses a guitar with a detachable neck. The guitar has a releasable latch mechanism comprising a neck plate fixed to the underside of the neck and a spring biased latch on the body and engageable with the neck. The latch mechanism holds the neck and body in position while releasable fasteners are used to tighten the neck plate and body together and relieve the latch from the forces pulling the neck away from the guitar body. The disadvantage with the disclosed guitar is that assembly is complicated by positioning the neck relative to the body with the latch mechanism and then using fasteners to secure the position. The reattachment is not reproducible as the fasteners can be fastened to varying degrees thereby affecting the sound produced by the guitar. As well the latch and latch lip may with time bend under the constant strain of the opposing forces and fail to reproducibly and accurately position the neck relative to the guitar body.